The Portland daily press., 1887-03-10
THE wAREhAM MURDERER.
Great Secrecy Regarding the Hour
OF His ExecutIon.-Hls Crime.

PLYMOUTH, Mass, March Sunless the
executive clemeney be exercised Samuel f.
l3asse. the Wareham murderer, will be
hanged tomorrow morning The hour Of his
execution no one but Sheriff Harmon knOws,
and the whole affair l. t. be conducted with
the greatest secrecy. Reporters will he ex-
eluded from the hanging. and only twelve
Witnesses, besides those whom the law speci-
mes shall be admitted. will be present ON the
occasion. Rev. Frank B. Sleeper, Besse's
spiritual advisor, who visits him daily, the
lail physician and subordinate officers, all
refuse to give any information about the
Condemned man, the desire being TO avoid
publicity Of sensational details. The gal
lows, which was built in Springfield, was
put up In the guardrOom OF the Jail today.
The crime for which Besse Is 10 be hanged
was committed Tuesday, December %, 1885
On the morning Of the 23d, the body Of Rich
ard X. Lawton, an egg collector Of Westport
was found In his wagon In the village Of
showed that death had been caused by gun
shot wounds In the head. Lawt0n's route
in collecting eggs extended through the
townD OF Wareham, and at farm house in
that town he was last seen alive. To reach
the next stopping place on his route he must
pass through lonely stretch Of woodland,
and 1t was here that search revealed that
murder had been committed. Shot were
found in the branches Of trees, and some
heavy body had evidently been dragged In
the roadway. A tenn had been driven into
the woods and horse hitched 10 tree while
an egg box was discovered concealed In the
bushes. Suspicion pointed TO Samuel II.
Besse as the murderer He bore a bad repu-
tation and had spent thirteen years in penal
Institutions. On Thursday he was seen with
a gun near the place where the murder was
committed and gun shots were heard in the
vicinity; 1t was further shown that Lawton
staid Tuesday night with a man named
Burnham Of Wareham; that he arose and
went away at about three o'clock Wednes-
day morning, and that In few hours man
who was afterwards identified as Besse was
seen driving wagon, In the bottom Of
which lay another man, In the direction Of
New Bedford. 1t was supposed that Besse
was intoxicated at the time; that be con-
ceived the idea that he must dispose Of the
body which he had left In the wagon iu the
woods, and that he started to carry 1t 10 tide
water at New Bedford, but becoming more
sober, and realizing that daylight was near
he abandoned the team at Plainville.
Besse was In New Bedford Wednesday,
where he spent some money and returned by
train to Wareham In the evening He re-
sisted arrest when the officers took him
Thursday night. Blood stains were found
on his boots and clothing. Lawton was
known to have had 500, with him when he
was murdered, and s35 was found on Besse,
was committed to Plymouth Jail to await
the action Of the grand jury. While here he
made one attempt to escape by removing a
part Of the brick partition separating his
cell from the chimney flue. He was
tried at a special session Of the Supreme
Court held in May. Hosea King OF
Bridgewater and John G.. Sullivan of
Nlddleboro appeared as his counsel The
prisoner was calm and self-possessed
throughout the trial. No defence was Of
fered except to show THAT the Identification
of Besse as the driver of the wagon was not
complete and that the government had not
proved its case. The jury after few min
Exceptions were filed by the counsel for the
defendant on the ground Of alleged informal
ity in the drawing of the jury. These ex-
ceptions were Overruled by the Supreme
bench In November, and on December 10th,
Besse received his sentence.